Leaf it out, are you having a laugh?

Got to admit that I was a little bit shocked (no pun intended; well, not really – although it did make me titter for about five one-hundredths of a second) to read that the new Nissan Leaf’s batteries will “last for over 10 years, but there may be a gradual loss of capacity of 30 per cent or more depending on driving dynamics".
Which to me sounds like; don’t be surprised if your shiny new Leaf is good for not much in 10 years’ time if you drive it with any form of gusto.

Got to admit that I was a little bit shocked (no pun intended; well, not really – although it did make me titter for about five one-hundredths of a second) to read that the new Nissan Leaf’s batteries will “last for over 10 years, but there may be a gradual loss of capacity of 30 per cent or more depending on driving dynamics".

Which to me sounds like; don’t be surprised if your shiny new Leaf is good for not much in 10 years’ time if you drive it with any form of gusto.

Eh? What sort of an incentive to invest in the future is that? The Leaf costs 31 grand (alright £26k thanks to the generosity of our beloved government, which runs out next March by the way, at which point you’ll be asked to cough the full £30,990).

Which means it’s hardly a yesterday’s newspaper kind of product. Yet as it stands, anyone who’s bold enough to part with their hard earned folding to put a Leaf on their drive can bank on throwing it away in 500 weeks’ time.

Can you imagine thinking the same way about a Porsche Boxster that you’d bought in 2001? “Sorry dear, it’s 2011 now, I’m just off to take the Boxster – which can now no longer pull the skin off a rice pudding, I’m afraid – to the local scrap heap. Might get fifty quid for it. Hopefully.’

I know we all need to pull together to help save the planet, and ourselves, from impending doom and all that. And I appreciate that cars like the Leaf should be applauded for pioneering a way forwards etc.

But how and why do they expect us to buy into an idea, which, ultimately, seems so wasteful? Or am I missing something here (as usual)? In which case, forgive me and carry on with your day.